Herbert Hoover and the Amana Colonies

After a good night's rest and leisurely breakfast, we were ready to take some backcountry roads to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site.  I thought it would be a quick one-hour visit but surprisingly, we spent nearly three hours.  The site includes a visitor's center, where we watched a short movie on Herbert Hoover; several buildings (one original, others moved from other locations); Hoover Presidential Library; and the graves of Herbert and Lou Hoover.  I came away from the visit with a very different idea of who Herbert Hoover was as a person and president.  For several years we had driven by this place and never stopped.  I am so glad that we made visiting this site a part of our trip.

Scenes from the rural roads we traveled....lots and lots of corn and bean fields

On this road a Bald Eagle flew up from the road in front of our car with a piece of roadkill in his talons.  He looked very big up close.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Visitor's Center.

This is the original house in which President Hoover was born.  His parents were Jesse and Hulda Hoover and he lived here with a brother Theodore (Tad) and sister Mary.  Jesse's blacksmith shop can be seen in the upper right corner of this picture.

The dresser and sewing machine are original pieces.

Jesse's blacksmith shop.  This building is not original.

The seat for Bertie and Tad is original.  The boys spent a lot of time with the father in the shop  One day Bertie stepped on a hot metal shard leaving a scar on the bottom of his foot.  President Hoover referred to it as "a stamp from Iowa" on his foot.

One-room school he attended;

Their house sat on Downey Street which was a main street in the town of  West Branch.  The gazebo is original to the street.

This is the Quaker Church similar to the one he attended.  Men and Women sat on opposite sides with a partition between.   Each would enter on their own side of the building.

The partition between the men and women had a moveable shutter that could be lowered during times when business of the church was being done.

This was the crying room or as we would call it:  the bed baby nursery.

This is the statue of the Greek goddess Isis.  It was given to Hoover after he helped organize food relief for Europe following WW I.  Because the Hoover's were Quaker and believed in simplicity, this is the only statue on the grounds.  One a year it has to be waxed and today was waxing day.

The tombs of Herbert and Lou Hoover.  There is no presidential seal or other indication that the tomb contains a president.  Only their names and years are on the stones.

This picture was taken from the hill where the tombs are showing the house in which Hoover was born.  This site of the tombs was chosen to represent his life from birth to death.

This farm belonged to Hoover's uncle and aunt.  It is original to the location.  Part of the federal land the Historical Site sits on contains 85 acres of restoration prairie land.  It shows what this part of Iowa would have looked like before it was settled.

The Presidential Library

There was a lot of walking and reading.  Carol found a spot to sit and it happened to be under a statement President Hoover made which sums up part of his philosophy.  
President Hoover was orphaned at the age of 10.  The three children were sent to live with different family members.  Hoover was sent to Oregon.  At the age of 11 he was put on a train by himself with a suitcase of his clothes and a box of food for the trip.  His parents left the children enough money to attend college and Hoover attended Stanford in California.  He graduated with a geology degree and went to work for mining companies where he traveled the world.  He was very successful and well-known and eventually became the Secretary of Commerce and from there President.

Because he was an orphan, he was always interested in helping children.  He was very involved with the Boys Clubs and helped develop UNICEF and other worldwide children's organizations.  Unfortunately for him, the stock market crashed followed by the Great Depression which caused him to lose his re-election bid.  However, even after he left the presidency, he continued to work in children's organizations and wrote many books and paper.  

This year would have been his 150th birthday.  

The Hoover grave is close to I-80 and the McDonald Arches can be seen from the site.  I thought it was interesting that Hoover worked tirelessly for children and within sight of his grave is the symbol of something that modern living depicts of a child's happiness...going to McDonalds for a Happy Meal.

This is the Ox Yoke Inn Restaurant where we ate lunch.  This is in Amana Colonies.  The food was very good.  The Amana Colonies consists of seven villages founded by a German religious group seeking religious freedom in the United States.  They first settled in New York before buying land in Iowa and founding the colonies as a communal form of government.  All needs were provided for by the community.  There were communal homes, kitchens, farms, etc.  No one received a paycheck because they didn't need money.  The community took care of all needs.  These colonies lived like this for 89 years.  Then in 1932 a transformation known as "The Great Change" occurred.  The change was fueled by the desire to give young people more opportunity.  The community and church is still very important but they are a more open society.

This is the original house owned by Christian Metz and was built in 1857.  Mr. Metz was one of the religious leaders when the group came from New York.

Original corn crib built in the 1850's

Original farm managers office.  People would come to the building everyday to get their work assignments for the day.  Most of the original buildings house small shops geared toward tourists.

Originally this was a communal home of three families.

All the barns are built from the same building plans.

Today as we traveled the backroads, we saw so many fields of corn and beans.  It was very relaxing to be off the interstate and really see what Iowa is all about.

Tomorrow we pack up and leave Palisades-Kepler State Park and head for Ledges State Park.  Ledges has already sent us an email with attachments welcoming us to the park and showing what will be going on in the park this weekend.  Palisades is a great place to camp...big campsites, beautiful surroundings, quiet days and nights.  The only negative is the cold showers!!  Hope the showers at Ledges are hot.  I would even settle for warm!